Year of release: 2019
Label: Signal Rex
Rating: 8,5 / 10
The one hundred millionth anonymous project, which will be discussed today, belongs to the group of musicians that has developed around the Scandinavian label / initiative Afgrundsvisioner. GRIFTESKYMFNING, ESKATOLOGI, HÄDANFÄRD, HEDENGANG, MÚSPELLZHEIMR, RAKSU also belong to it. I have heard three of the six projects listed above, and they all play melancholic “forest” metal of various planting densities. GEISTAZ’IKA is no exception, but their album is twice better than all above-mentioned. Finally, Scandinavia released a truly old-fashioned and proper album in the aesthetics of the dark Nordic forests, without the Nordvis post-folklore pretentiousness or drug-influenced bullshit.
“Trolddomssejd...” influences are not the most popular. There is nothing burzumic or satyriconic. Only one giant had a great influence on the album - ULVER. Beautiful acoustic parts and pure-voiced choruses, characteristic of their first works, paint a musical picture with wide strokes. However, ULVER assigned a more important role to the folklore component than GEISTAZ’IKA. “Trolddomssaid ...” is first and foremost metal. I agree with the publisher’s analogies; the resemblance to PERISHED, the early ISVIND and HELHEIM actually does occur. And also with the Greeks SARVARI. But not so obvious. The album conveys the spirit of antiquity with its aura, not the construction of riffs. One can hear sincere admiration for the dark beauty of the night, that cold melancholic romanticism which stood out in the Scandinavian Black Metal of the early 90s. The desire to leave the vale of sorrow and dissolve in the inviting darkness of the ancient thicket, to roam forever among the trees as a lonely spirit - this is a completely natural desire that “Trolddomssejd...” trying to convey. While I was composing this maxim, I suddenly came up with the closest album in sound and spirit: “... from where night comes” of Belarusian W.E.L. I do not argue, it's more clumsy in every sense, but it achieves the same sensations and has an almost identical aesthetics. And one more remark: starting to write a review, I planned to give the album a lower rating, because in some places it seemed too melodic to me. But this claim suddenly lost its relevance.
A cunningly produced sound helps to plunge into the coniferous smell of darkness. On the one hand, it is rather “cassette”, muffled, and on the other hand, it has clarity. Properly cooked porridge, where oatmeal and raisins did not stick together so that it became necessary to pick one with a spoon. All instruments are recorded live and can be heard exactly as needed. "Trolddomssejd..." is a great example of the right approach, a landmark for half-educated musicians trying to convey their “forest atmosphere” in fashionable studios with perfectly smooth sound. While they continue to do this, bands like GEISTAZ’IKA drag their target audience, and WINTERFYLLETH and SKOGEN remain the soundtrack to the flat Mongolian steppes, and not a single person who has ever seen wildlife will believe in their music. As for the physical release, of the album, I can add only one thing: with such a sound, cassette tape version is simply necessary!
English (UK) 
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